St Johnstone players re-grouped yesterday for the start of pre-season training and the countdown to the Europa League challenge began in earnest.

Midfielder Paddy Cregg penned a new 12-month contract and, as revealed by PA Sport on Tuesday, Swansea City winger Gwion Edwards returns to McDiarmid Park next week after a loan deal was clinched with the Premiership club.

But new manager Tommy Wright knew that a missing player would hog the headlines.

There was no sign of Richie Brittain - who finds himself committed to two clubs. And Wright finds himself preparing for European games with either Crusaders or Rosenborg knowing he can rule the 29-year-old Ross County captain out of his plans.

Brittain did report for duty, at Dingwall, where it emerged he had signed yet another contract, this time with employment law specialists to fight his corner.

Saints and the Staggies are at loggerheads, with Brittain signed up by manager Derek Adams and registered by County at the SFA and at the SPL by the Perth club following his pre-contract commitment to Saints back in January.

Unless a compromise is reached it may be some time before he plays SPL football again and Brittain could become a Marc Bosman-type test case.

“It is the first day back for the new season and we should be talking about re-signing Paddy and the exciting prospect of Europa League games coming up. Instead we are talking about the Richie Brittain saga again. He has certainly had his 15 minutes of fame,” lamented Wright.

“I don’t think it will be a distraction to the players but it is a distraction for me getting my squad together with big games coming up. That is what I want to be concentrating on,” said Wright.

The Saints manager may not be anticipating ever seeing Brittain in a Saints shirt now but he is supporting chairman Steve Brown’s refusal to back down, given the broader ramifications for the game.

“I’m disappointed but not surprised that Richie hasn’t shown up. But the issue is obviously now much wider than just Richie Brittain and St Johnstone.

“The whole future of pre-contracts is under scrutiny here. But Derek says it’s okay because UEFA, FIFA and managers don’t like pre-contracts anyway. It’s good to see he has now become a spokesman for world football.”

Responding to County’s controversial move to register the midfielder with the SFA, having previously acknowledged he was St Johnstone’s player, Wright said: “To put it politely I am extremely disappointed that any club would do that. I have never known a situation like this.

“But there is a precedent set in English football in 2006 when Manchester City paid Bolton £400,000 compensation for Dietmar Hamann after he had previously signed a pre-contract when he was at Liverpool. They did the right thing.

“So I am hoping my chairman and Roy McGregor at Ross County will reach some sort of agreement. It is out of my hands now. The chairman will deal with it from here on in.

“Everybody in football was aware we had signed Richie on a pre-contract back in January. So I think it is wrong that another club is allowed to register him. We were not in a position to register Richie with the SFA until June 9. But we have done everything by the book here. We believe we are in the right.

“I just hope for the sake of the clubs that it doesn’t end up at a tribunal. Scottish football probably doesn’t need that.

“But the chairman here has made it clear he won’t be changing his stance.

“Our position has not changed from day one. We have been consistent.

“It is the position of Ross County that has moved.

“The chairman feels we have a duty to other clubs here and I totally agree with him. ”

Wright admitted he faces a quandary, noting: “We have been hindered in going about our business because we believed Richie Brittain would be coming here. Even now, what if it is decide

“d Richie has to come to Perth and we have gone out and signed another midfielder - we will have overshot our budget. There’s something very wrong for that to be allowed to happen and it has to be sorted out.

“Managers may not like pre-contracts but we deal with them, as we did with Liam Craig moving on to Hibs. Everyone now accepts it is part of the game.

“They can work for you and against you. It has changed from the early days when clubs might fall out with a player who had signed a pre-contract.

“I don’t see any rule changes coming through from UEFA or FIFA any time soon.

“Like them or not they are part of world football.”

Wright also revealed that Saints twice agreed terms to take Brittain to Perth.

He said: “It may have been Steve Lomas who set-up the deal to bring Richie here in January but I watched him three times back when he was playing in the First Division and we both decided he was a player we wanted to bring to St Johnstone.

“We had a deal done for him but the agent’s fees were too high for the club and it fell through. It had nothing to do with the player and the club not agreeing.

“He is someone Steve and myself really liked ever since we came to Scotland.”